


Always In Hindsight

by kay_emm_gee



Series: the kids aren't alright (The 100 tumblr prompts) [64]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Actors, Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Hollywood, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Hollywood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 04:56:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5362226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kay_emm_gee/pseuds/kay_emm_gee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: bellarke fic based on t swifts 'wildest dreams' video?? maybe with a happy ending...</p>
<p>Summary: It was her first major motion picture premiere as a lead actress, and Clarke, decked out in glittering midnight-blue designer finery, desperately wished she was anywhere else, all because of Bellamy Blake. Anya, as her agent, had warned her that Bellamy Blake was a charmer, a playboy, and Clarke thought she had been prepared to ignore him. What she hadn't been prepared for was to fall for him, and even months later, still care this much when he didn't seem to feel the same way at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always In Hindsight

It was her first major motion picture premiere as a lead actress, and Clarke, decked out in glittering midnight-blue designer finery, desperately wished she was anywhere else.

At least the paparazzi weren’t allowed into the theater, so they wouldn’t see her refusing to look at the screen when he was on, or the way her hands gripped the seat too tightly when his voice spoke words she wished, in the deepest corners of her heart, he had said to her for real and not as part of the script.

Anya had warned her that Bellamy Blake was a charmer, a playboy, that he and his signature smirk had swept many a starlet into a whirlwind but also temporary romance, leaving them and their broken hearts in the dust before they could even finish saying  _I love you_. Clarke had just scoffed, because she had been that doe-eyed girl before, and, despite getting Raven as a friend out of her last on-set entanglement, she did not want to go through that disaster of the heart again.

So she thought she had been prepared for Bellamy Blake. She had been prepared to ignore his swoon-inducing grins, and his flirtatious comments, and his hands that brushed politely against her lower back, her elbows, her sides. She had ignored it all, seeing confusion and a little bit of frustration in his eyes when she regarded him with nothing but indifference.

What she hadn’t been prepared for were the glimpses of his genuine passion for acting, for the way he never turned down a fan even when he was nearly falling over with exhaustion, the way he talked so lovingly about his sister and his friends, the way he rolled his eyes at the director when Cage was being a dock, the way he fed off of her energy and challenged her and connected with her in front of the camera like no one ever had before. She hadn’t been prepared for the surprise in his eyes when she kissed him late one night in the middle of a script reading, for the taste of coffee and cinnamon on his lips, for the way he asked if she was sure, if she had meant it. She hadn’t been prepared for the way he swept her in, stealing more kisses behind abandoned sets and laughing as she dragged him through the dark to her trailer, for the softness in his eyes when he looked at her across the production stage as if she were the only one in the room.

She certainly hasn’t been prepared for that softness to vanish completely during their last week of filming, for him to avoid her, for not hearing a word from him after Cage had called cut for the last time. Nor had she been prepared for the giggling personal assistants trying to catch his attention (and maybe his arm into the theater) as he strode down the red carpet, more than ever Hollywood’s bad-but-so-good boy.

The feel of his stare following her had been unmistakable as she had walked by him outside the theater without a second glance, causing a flurry of nosy questions and greedy camera flashes. Her snub would no doubt be the headline story for all the tabloids tomorrow. She didn’t quite care though, because rumors would be easier to bear than the sight of him doting on some other girl. It wasn’t much easier watching him larger than life on the screen now, all around her when she wished he would just disappear altogether.

It was her first movie premiere, though, and she would not let Bellamy Blake ruin it entirely, so she promised herself to make it through the entire film, for her own pride.

Even so, the credits had only begun to roll when she flew out of her seat, moving as fast as she could in the stilt-like heels Anya had convinced her to wear. Missing him was too much, too painful, and he didn’t deserve to see her break, not like this, in front of the whole world.

If only she hadn’t paused in the middle of the lobby to kick off her shoes, because really, they were a hazard to her health. If only she hadn’t stopped, if only she hadn’t frozen when she heard him call out her name.

“Where are you going?” He asked incredulously, sounding even a little wounded.

Disbelief and hurt squeezed her chest tightly, and she struggled to compose herself before she turned around.

“None of your business. Not anymore.”

She bit her lip, not having meant to let the last two bitter words slip out. She hadn’t meant to let him know how much he made her feel. She wasn’t supposed to feel anything at all, not when it came to him.

His eyes clouded over, anger clashing with regret. “Clarke–”

“Don’t,” she blurted, hitching up her dress and walking away. “Just don’t.”

Maybe it was his sharp intake of breath, or the sound of his footsteps coming after her, but flight won over fight, and so she ran. He swore and just over the sound of her frantically racing heart, she heard him take off after her. Desperate to avoid a completely disastrous scene, she turned away from the building exit at the last minute for the sweeping staircase leading to the upper part of the auditorium. Her calves burned as she got to the top, and she was so focused on where to go next that she didn’t realize Bellamy was so close behind until he spun her around and backed her into the wall.

“What are you doing, pulling a goddamn Cinderella moment on me?” He heaved, tuxedoed chest rising and falling dramatically.

“Like you’d ever be considered Prince Charming,” she snapped back, hating that the heat in her cheeks wasn’t from the run or her anger but from how very near Bellamy was to her.

“Didn’t think you needed one, princess,” he taunted, eyes flashing defiantly.

The use of that nickname, and the lingering fondness in it, broke her, and she sagged against the wall, the rest of her angry words catching in her now raw throat.

“Don’t,” she repeated, the word soft and pleading now. “Just don’t.”

He shifted uneasily, as if understanding, as if to move away, and suddenly she couldn’t bear to lose him again. Her hands flew out, fisting into his crisp white shirt, creating creases that would be hard to get out.

“Don’t,” she said again, though she couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought ( _don’t go_ ).

He heard it anyways though, blowing out an unsteady breath as he wrapped her up tightly, as if he didn’t want to let her go either.

“I fucked up,” he whispered into her hair as voices sounded in the distance from the crowd exiting the theater. “I got, I don’t know. Scared. You are terrifying, you know that? You just–you took me in, and then you were going to leave, and I didn’t know how I was going to be without you, if we weren’t ever going to meet again. So I just–”

“Shut me out?”

His chest, which her face was pressed up against, expanded as he sighed regretfully.

“Like I said, I fucked up.”

Clarke paused, breathing him in, cologne and shaving cream and champagne from the pre-viewing toast. Heart in her throat, she finally said, “We can try a take two?”

He tensed, then pulled back, looking down at her with wary hopefulness. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Then she smiled, small and shy, before burrowing her face into his solid chest again.

She felt the soft press of a kiss to the top of her head as Bellamy let out a chuckle. They stood there, wrapped up in each other for a little while longer, until the swell of voices grew loud enough to no longer ignore. So, Clarke pulled back, slipped her hand into his, and then tugged him back towards the top of the stairs. The minute they stepped into view, cameras would flash and tongues would wag, so she looked to Bellamy for reassurance before doing so. He just quirked a grin at her, only pausing for a second to whisper in her ear before stepping out with her in front of the whole world.

“And action.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on tumblr (kay-emm-gee)!


End file.
